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| - I was so ready to enjoy Dominick's... my husband and I save eating at expensive restaurants for rare occasions in our life. Enjoying the anticipation and the reward we're about to give ourselves is as much a part of the experience as the actual eating itself so it's something we treat ourselves to sparingly so it doesn't become mundane.
We had reached one of these time-to-celebrate occasions for something or other and it happened to coincide with an overwhelming desire for a good steak. Dominick's is just across the street from us and we'd not been there yet so we decided it was the perfect opportunity for our evening out!
Unfortunately, we both ended up a little disappointed.
Let me say firstly I don't mind a high priced restaurant menu, not at all. But if you're pricing your menu in the realm of the 4 and 5 dollar signs, your restaurant - the ENTIRE restaurant experience - should live up to that rating.
That means knowledgeable and courteous wait staff, smooth handling by hosts and hostesses, elegant decor and atmosphere, professional management, creative and beautiful food presentation and exquisite quality. Skillfulness should be present in all areas. And in Dominick's I found it lacking.
We had reservations around 7:30 on a weeknight. We were greeted by a gum-chewing hostess at the front propped on her elbows looking bored and then escorted to a table against the back wall of the restaurant.There was hardly anyone in the place and they seat us in the most remote spot, away from the only people that *were* there.
(Note to Dominick's - atmosphere in a restaurant is generated not by making remote islands of guests at either ends of a space, but by putting them just close enough together so that a collective energy is born from people enjoying themselves being in proximity to one another.)
Personally I found the decor cliché: padded leather walls, dark colors - design choices that smack of old rich white men in their exclusive country club yukking it up with their gin and tonics. I understand the style may resonate with some so I don't find any fault with the restaurant about it at all, it's clearly a personal preference. Just not one I'd make were I to design the interior of a high end steakhouse in Scottsdale.
After having been seated, our server couldn't be bothered with much beyond "What can I get you?" He was preoccupied with something all evening. I realized only after I heard another server present some daily specials to her customers that our guy completely blew over that part of the usual routine. He also hadn't asked if we wanted cocktails or wine and when we got there, he didn't mention dessert possibilities at the end... nothing. The guy was adequate at best and did nothing to contribute to an enjoyable evening.
Unfortunately this says to me, even if it's not 100% true across the board, that the bar isn't set very high during Dominick's hiring process. It's a delightful feeling when you sit down at a table in a restaurant and find yourself being taken care of by a consummate server - in the industry for years, knows the menu like he created it, and handles his customers with aplomb yet not intrusive. It's a magical thing. I acknowledge it's not fair for me to expect that every single time - after all, not everyone's an artist - but I do expect a little more from a server at a supposed high-end restaurant than "What can I get you?" or "Anything else?" which is all we were treated to.
The food is fine - although I give presentation a big fat ZERO. No creativity here - bare white plate with a piece of steak on it. I almost laughed. While it wasn't extraordinary, the steaks were cooked as asked and the quality of the meat *is* excellent, but something was off. To me, the place was masquerading as one thing (high end primo restaurant you should want to visit because of its name and location), but in reality it's something else and I couldn't put my finger on it until we got home.
We were also graced by two roving managers who didn't know what each was doing. The first gentleman showed up wanting to know "how things were going". Um... ok as I have a bite in my mouth? Then not 10 minutes later a different man, also introducing himself as a manager interrupted our meal again asking the same thing. Come on guys! Really? Here we are in cocktail attire, in a mostly empty restaurant, stuck against the back wall in la-la land, trying to enjoy time together that we've purposely set aside for an expensive meal and you bumble about the place like it's ... like it's...
A tourist trap.
*That* was what I couldn't put my finger on while I was there. Packaged up all pretty (oh you should see the foo-foo cars they like to park in front of their entrance) but on the inside it was slightly cheesy, dated, mundane service, and food that looked like someone slammed it on the plate in a hurry.
Do yourself a favor if you're looking for class. Go elsewhere.
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